Police seek vandals who trashed Gardner Edgerton High School; classes to resume Tuesday

Police are still looking for the people who vandalized Gardner Edgerton High School over the weekend.

Gardner Police said the property damage inside the high school, at 425 N. Waverly Road, was so extensive that district officials had to close the school Monday for cleanup.

Officers were called to the school about noon Sunday after school district employees found that someone had forced entry into the building and caused significant damage.

Officials did not immediately know the value of the property loss. But Police Sgt. Steve Benz said glass from shattered windows covered the floors and chairs throughout the school. Officials closed the school for safety reasons and to allow teachers and staff to inventory property to determine what may be missing, he said.

Benz said glass slivers sprayed across rooms in the school had to be removed before the school opened again. Later on Monday, school officials announced on Twitter that the school would be open again for activities at 3 p.m. and that classes would resume Tuesday.

A video retrieved from the school’s security system shows three men, approximately 18 to 25 years old, inside the building. Benz said the men are considered suspects. Police received many tips that might lead to the men in the video, but as of Monday afternoon no arrests had been made.

In a statement, Gardner Edgerton School District officials said they are “disappointed by the vandalism” at the high school. “We condemn these actions to the highest degree.”

The Gardner Edgerton incident is the second school vandalism to be reported in the area in less than a week. On Thursday evening, several Shawnee Mission East High School athletic sheds were spay-painted with racial, sexual and anti-Semitic slurs, including four swastikas.

Eight to 10 students may have been involved in that incident and could face criminal and administrative sanctions. Police also are reviewing whether the vandalism to the Shawnee Mission East buildings constitutes a hate crime.

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Police seek vandals who trashed Gardner Edgerton High School; classes to resume Tuesday."